With less than three weeks until Madison celebrates Halloween 2006, the city is starting to work out the details of Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's controversial plan to charge admission to State Street.

Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said arrangements for bands and stages are progressing, largely because of event promoter John Kunz. Though Kunz does not yet have a street use permit for the Oct. 28 celebration, Verveer said The Onion has already come forward as an early sponsor of the event. Kunz could not be reached for comment as of press time.

"Things are going very well," Verveer added. "There's no shortage of bands and other talent that want to perform, especially local acts."

Verveer said although several bands and sponsors have expressed serious interest in the event, city officials are holding off on revealing any more details until finalization.

Yet he added some of the details, such as placement of the stages and food vendors along State Street, are finalized. Verveer said one stage will be just off Capitol Square facing the 100 block of State Street and the other will be placed at an angle next to Pizzeria Uno on West Gorham Street.

Verveer also said Library Mall will be used by several street vendors during Halloween, and will be accessible to the general public, not only those who purchased tickets to the event. However, Library Mall will not feature a stage or sponsored entertainment, Verveer said.

"Even though [Library Mall] is city property … out of courtesy to Bascom Hall and the university administration, we decided not to have a stage there — they objected very strongly to it," he said. "We absolutely believe that area is too congested … we needed to spread out the crowd."

But for students who wish to avoid the madness of Halloween on State Street altogether this year, Dawn Crim, assistant director of community relations in the University of Wisconsin Office of the Chancellor, said there would be other entertainment options.

Unlike last year, Crim said, Union South will be open the evening of Oct. 28 for student groups to offer space for safe alternatives and activities. The programs would be directed toward the UW community, she added, and students would probably have to show a school ID to gain entrance.

"Our intention really was to be able to provide an opportunity for student organizations to hold their own event," Crim said. "There were concerns last year — students wanted to have the space, but neither Memorial Union nor Union South were available."

Kristina Mueller of the Wisconsin Union Directorate said there would be several different rooms available for student groups to use, but WUD does not know what kind of turnout to expect. The number of people who show up will depend on the number of student groups who decide to use the space provided, she added.

"We heard a lot of people don't want to go down to State Street," Mueller said. "I think our organization wanted to provide an alternative to people who did not want to participate in State Street."